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bued with the mysteries, the superstitions, and the romantic valour which characterised the then chieftains of the north countrie.

This disposition showed itself not only in his poetical efforts, but in an attempt which, though not prosecuted far enough to be then given to the world, has now been communicated by the author to the public in his general Preface to the Waverley Novels; this was the beginning of a work intended to be in the style of the Castle of Otranto, with plenty of border characters and supernatural incident.» The specimen we have of this work does not afford much ground to regret its being only a fragment.

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From this period our author appears to have devoted himself systematically to literary pursuits, and to have considered his legal occupations as entirely secondary. In his Introduction to the last edition of the Lay of the Last Minstrel, he says, It may be readily supposed that the attempts which I had made in literature had been unfavourable to my success at the bar. The goddess Themis is, at Edinburgh, and I suppose everywhere else, of a peculiarly jealous disposition. She will not readily consent to share her autho- | rity, and sternly demands from her votaries not only that real duty be carefully attended to and discharged, but that a certain air of business shall be observed even in the midst of total idleness. It is prudent, if not absolutely necessary, in a young barrister, to appear completely engrossed by his profession; however destitute of employment he may be, he ought to preserve, if possible, the appearance of full occupation. He should at least seem perpetually engaged among his lawpapers, dusting them, as it were; and, as Ovid advises the fair,

Si nullus erit pulvis, tamen excute nullum..

After alluding to the exception afforded in modern times by Mr Jeffrey's success, both at the bar and in literature, he continues ::

« But this is an incident much beyond the ideas of a period of thirty years' distance, when a barrister who really possessed any turn for lighter literature, was at as much pains to conceal it, as if it had in reality been something to be ashamed of; and I could mention more than one instance in which literature and society have suffered loss, that jurisprudence might be enriched.

Such, however, was not my case; for the reader will not wonder that my open interference with matters of light literature diminished my employment in the weightier matters of the law. Nor did the solicitors, upon whose choice the counsel takes rank in his profession, do me less than justice, by regarding others among my con

temporaries as fitter to discharge the duty due to their clients, than a young man who was taken up with running after ballads, whether Teutonic or national. My profession and I, therefore, came to stand nearly upon the footing on which honest Slender consoled himself with having established with Mistress Anne Page; There was no great love between us at the beginning, and it pleased Heaven to decrease it on farther acquaintance.' I became sensible that the time was come when I must either buckle myself resolutely to the 'toil by day, the lamp by night,' renouncing all the Delilahs of my imagination, or bid adieu to the profession of the law, and hold another course.

I confess my own inclination revolted from the more severe choice, which might have been deemed by many the wiser alternative. As my transgressions had been numerous, my repentance must have been signalized by unusual sacrifices. I ought to have mentioned, that since my fourteenth or fifteenth year, my health, originally delicate, had become extremely robust. From infancy I had laboured under the infirmity of a severe lameness, but, as I believe is usually the case with men of spirit who suffer under personal inconveniences of this nature, I had, since the improvement of my health, in defiance of this incapacitating circumstance, distinguished myself by the endurance of toil on foot or horseback, having often walked thirty miles a-day, and rode upwards of a hundred, without stopping. In this manner I made many pleasant journeys through parts of the country then not very accessible, gaining more amusement and instruction than I have been able to acquire since I have travelled in a more commodious manner. I practised most silvan sports also, with some success, and with great delight. But these pleasures must have been all resigned, or used with great moderation, had I determined to regain my station at the bar. It was even doubtful whether I could, with perfect character as a jurisconsult, retain a situation in a volunteer corps of cavalry, which I then held. The threats of invasion were at this time instant and menacing; the call by Britain on her children was universal, and was answered by many, who, like myself, consulted rather their will than their ability to bear arms. My services, however, were found useful in assisting to maintain the discipline of the corps, being the point on which their constitution rendered them most amenable to military criticism. In other respects, the squadron was a fine one, consisting of handsome men, well mounted and armed at their own expeuse. My attention to the corps took up a good deal of time; and while it occupied many of the happiest hours of my life, it furnished an additional reason for my reluctance again to encounter the

severe course of study indispensable to success in might be made to correspond with the period in the juridical profession..

His next production was « Sir Tristrem, a metrical romance of the thirteenth century, by Thomas of Ercildoun,» printed in 1804. Still, however, Mr Scott may be said as yet to have been only rising in fame: but he soon gained enough to have intoxicated an ordinary mind in the applause bestowed upon his Lay of the Last Minstrel, which appeared, in quarto, in

1805.

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which the scene was laid. Having proceeded as far, I think, as the Seventh Chapter, I showed my work to a critical friend, whose opinion was unfavourable; and having then some poetical reputation, I was unwilling to risk the loss of it by attempting a new style of composition. I therefore threw aside the work I had commenced, without either reluctance or remonstrance. ought to add, that though my ingenious friend's sentence was afterwards reversed, on an appeal to the public, it cannot be considered as any imputation on his good taste; for the specimen subjected to his criticism did not extend beyond the departure of the hero for Scotland, and, consequently, had not entered upon the part of the story which was finally found most interesting.

It appears, from the introduction prefixed to the last edition of this poem, that the incident of the goblin page, which some critics have objected to as an excrescence upon the poem, was in fact the first foundation of the work. The incidents which occasioned the production of this poem, and the chain of circumstances and considerations which induced the author to select the unusual measure and rhythm adopted so successfully in it, are detailed in a minute and interesting manner in the Introduction referred to, but are too long to be quoted here. It appears also from the same Introduction, that the poem was originally brought out on the usual terms of a division of profits be-ed my thoughts to the continuation of the rotween the author and the booksellers, but the latter soon afterwards purchased Mr Scott's interest for 5ool., to which they subsequently added 100l. more, in consequence of the uncommon success of the work. Upwards of 30,000 copies were disposed of by the trade.

Be that as it may, this portion of the manuscript was laid aside in the drawers of an old writing-desk, which, on my first coming to reside at Abbotsford, in 1811, was placed in a lumber garret, and entirely forgotten. Thus, though I sometimes, among other literary avocations, turn

It was about this time that the first idea of Waverley appears to have suggested itself to Mr Scott's mind. He thus details the incident in his general Preface to the novels, already referred

to:

■ I had been a good deal in the Highlands at a time when they were much less accessible, and much less visited, than they have been of late years, and was acquainted with many of the old warriors of 1745, who were, like most veterans, easily induced to fight their battles over again, for the benefit of a willing listener like myself. It naturally occurred to me, that the ancient traditions and high spirit of a people, who, living in a civilised age and country, retained so strong a tincture of manners belonging to an early period of society, must afford a subject favourable for romance, if it should not prove a curious tale marred in the telling.

mance which I had commenced, yet as I could not find what I had already written, after searching such repositories as were within my reach, and was too indolent to attempt to write it anew from memory, I as often laid aside all thoughts of that nature. »

It was only by mere accident that, two years afterwards, Mr Scott, in looking for some fishing tackle, found the long-lost manuscript in the old writing-desk before-mentioned: he immediately completed it, and from its appearance, in 1814, dates the never-dying celebrity of the author of Waverley. But to return from this digression; in 1806, Mr Scott published the Memoirs of Sir Henry Slingsby in one volume, and also a collection of Ballads and Lyrical Pieces;» the same year saw him appointed to a situation which greatly increased his worldly prosperity. As the incidents attending this appointment are equally honourable to Mr Scott and to his political opponents, we shall quote his own words from the introduction to the last edition of Marmion :

« An important circumstance had, about the same time, taken place in my life. Hopes had been held out to me from an influential quarter, It was with some idea of this kind, that, of a nature to relieve me from the anxiety which about the year 1805, I threw together about one- I must have otherwise felt, as one upon the precathird part of the first volume of Waverley. It rious tenure of whose own life rested the princiwas advertised to be published by the late pal prospects of his family, and especially as one Mr John Ballantyne, bookseller in Edinburgh, who had necessarily some dependence upon the under the name of Waverley, or 't is Fifty Years | favour of the public, which is proverbially caprisince, a title afterwards altered to T is Sixtycious; though it is but justice to add, that, in my Years since,' that the actual date of publication own case, I have not found it so. Mr Pitt had

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sistant and successor, my colleague very handsomely took the opportunity of the alteration to accept of a retiring annuity provided in such cases, and admitted me to the full benefit of the office.»

In the year 1807, the attention of our author was again turned towards prose composition by an engagement made with Mr Murray, an incident unimportant in itself, but which acquires interest from its having been in some measure instrumental in inducing Mr Scott to resume his intention of completing Waverley. In the Preface to the novels, so often referred to, the anecdote is thus related :

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expressed a wish to my personal friend, the Right Honourable William Dundas, now Lord Clerk Register of Scotland, that some fitting opportunity should be taken to be of service to me; and as my views and wishes pointed to a future rather than an immediate provision, an opportunity of accomplishing this was soon found. One of the Principal Clerks of Session, as they are called (official persons who occupy an important and responsible situation, and enjoy a considerable income), who had served upwards of thirty years, felt himself, from age, and the infirmity of deafness with which it was accompanied, desirous of retiring from his official situation. As the law then stood, such official persons were entitled to In the year 1807-8, I undertook, at the rebargain with their successors, either for a sum of quest of John Murray, Esq. of Albemarle-street, money, which was usually a considerable one, or to arrange for publication some posthumous profor an interest in the emoluments of the office ductions of the late Mr Joseph Strutt, distinguishduring their life. My predecessor, whose services ed as an artist and an antiquary, amongst which had been unusually meritorious, stipulated for the was an unfinished romance, entitled 'Queenemoluments of the office during his life, while I Hoo-Hall.' The scene of the tale was laid in the should enjoy the survivorship, on the condition that reign of Henry VI, and the work was written to I discharged the duties of the office in the meantime. illustrate the manners, customs, and language of Mr Pitt, however, having died in the interval, his the people of England during that period. The administration was dissolved, and was succeeded extensive acquaintance which Mr Strutt had acby that known by the name of the Fox and Gren-quired with such subjects in compiling his laboville Ministry. My affair was so far completed,rious Horda Angel Cynnan,' his Royal and that my commission lay in the office subscribed Ecclesiastical Antiquities,' and his 'Essay on the by his Majesty; but, from hurry or mistake, the Sports and Pastimes of the People of England,' interest of my predecessor was not expressed in had rendered him familiar with all the antiquait, as had been usual in such cases. Although, rian lore necessary for the purpose of composing therefore, it only required payment of the fees, the projected romance; and although the manuI could not in honour take out the commission in script bore the marks of hurry and incoherence the present state, since, in the event of my dying natural to the first rough dranght of the author, before him, the gentleman whom I succeeded it evinced (in my opinion) considerable powers of must have lost the vested interest which he had imagination. stipulated to retain. I had the honour of an interview with Earl Spencer on the subject, and he, in the most handsome manner, gave directions that the commission should issue as originally intended; adding, that the matter having received the royal assent, he regarded only as a claim of justice what he would have willingly done as an act of favour. I never saw Mr Fox on this, or on any other occasion, and never made any application to him, conceiving that in doing so I might have been supposed to express political opinions contrary to those which I had always professed. In his private capacity, there is no man to whom I would have been more proud to owe an obligation, had I been so distinguished.

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As the work was unfinished, I deemed it my duty, as Editor, to supply such a hasty and inartificial conclusion as could be shaped out from the story of which Mr Strutt had laid the foundation. This concluding chapter is also added to the present Introduction, for the reason already mentioned regarding the preceding fragment. was a step in my advance towards romantic composition; and to preserve the traces of these is in a great measure the object of this Essay.

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Queen-Hoo-Hall was not, however, very successful. I thought I was aware of the reason, and supposed that, by rendering his language too ancient, and displaying his antiquarian knowledge too liberally, the ingenious author had raised up an obstacle to his own success. Every work de

"By this arrangement I obtained the survi-signed for mere amusement must be expressed vorship of an office the emoluments of which were in language easily comprehended; and when, as fully adequate to my wishes; and as the law re- is sometimes the case in Queen-Hoo-Hall, the auspecting the mode of providing for superannuated thor addresses himself exclusively to the Antiofficers was, about five or six years after, altered quary, he must be content to be dismissed by the from that which admitted the arrangement of as-general reader with the criticism of Mungo, in

the Padlock, on the Mauritanian music, signifies me hear, if me no understand?'

Whated paper, an opportunity to include me in his satire, entitled 'English Bards and Scotch Reviewers.' I never could conceive how an arrangement between an author and his publishers, if satisfactory to the persons concerned, could afford matter of censure to any third party. I had taken no unusual or ungenerous means of enhancing the value of my merchandise,-I had never higgled a moment about the bargain, but accepted at once what I considered the handsome offer of my publishers. These gentlemen, at least, were not of opinion that they had been taken advantage of in the transaction, which indeed was one of their own framing; on the contrary, the sale of the Poem was so far beyond their expectation, as to induce them to supply the author's cellars with what is always an acceptable present to a young Scottish housekeeper, namely, a hogshead of excellent claret.

I conceived it possible to avoid this error; and by rendering a similar work more light and obrious to general comprehension, to escape the rock on which my predecessor was shipwrecked. But I was, on the other hand, so far discouraged by the indifferent reception of Mr Strutt's romance, as to become satisfied that the manners of the middle ages did not possess the interest which I had conceived; and was led to form the opinion that a romance, founded on a Highland story, and more modern events, would have a better chance of popularity than a tale of chivalry. My thoughts, therefore, returned more than once to the tale which I had actually commenced, and accident at length threw the lost sheets in my way,»

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The Poem was finished in too much haste, to allow me an opportunity of softening down, if not removing, some of its most prominent defects."

The sale of this work exceeded the most lavish expectations of its author, 36,000 copies having been sold previous to the year 1825.

During the same year, which was distinguished by the appearance of « Marmion," Mr Scott fa

From the time, however, of the publication of the Lay of the Last Minstrel, » Mr Scott entertained the idea of writing a poem on which he intended to bestow the greatest labour, in the hope of rendering it free from the looseness of style which characterised his former productions, and making it a monument which might perpetuate for him an unalloyed and spotless poetic fame. This work was Marmion; and the author appears to look back with peculiar pleasure to the time occupied in its composition, and to the frame of mind which induced those familiar epistles pre-voured the world with a complete edition of the fixed as introductions to the several cantos, which Works of Dryden, in which he gave a new life of though useless as aids to the conduct of the poem, that great writer, and numerous notes. But this are at once the most elegant and least faulty spe- was not the only instance of the fecundity of his cimens of the poetic talent of the author. This genius and the rapidity of his pen, for, while these poem, was, however, prematurely given to the volumes were proceeding through the press, he world, and it was with reference to the circum- found time for a quarto of Descriptions and 11stances connected with its publication that Lordlustrations of the Lay of the Last Minstrel," and Byron wrote the well-known lines in his « English a volume of the Memoirs of Captain George Bards, ending with Carleton.»

For this we scorn Apollo's venal son, And bid a long Good night to Marn.ion. Notwithstanding the good terms on which Byron and Scott were at a later period, this passage still appears to have left an unpleasant sensation on the mind of the latter, as in his new Introduction to Marmion, published in 1830, he thus expresses himself on the subject:

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Within a few months after this he undertook, at the request of the booksellers, the superintendence of a new edition of Lord Somers's col

lection of Historical Tracts; and at the same time
edited Sir Ralph Sadler's State Papers, Anna Se-
ward's Letters and Poetical Works, and the Me-
moirs of Sir Robert Cary. Yet the very year in
which these last publications appeared witnessed
the birth of another original offspring of his pro-
This was
lific muse.
«The Lady of the Lake,"
the most popular of all his poems, though, in the
opinion of many, inferior in several respects to his
Lay of the Last Minstrel."

⚫ The misfortunes of a near relation and friend, which happened at this time, led me to alter my prudent determination, which had been, to use great precaution in sending this poem into the world; and made it convenient at least, if not ab- On the composition of this poem, and the versolutely necessary, to hasten its publication. The sification of the local details, the author bestowed publishers of The Lay of the Last Minstrel,' em- unusual pains, which he describes with considerboldened by the success of that poem, willingly able minuteness in his introduction to the new offered a thousand pounds for Marmion.' The edition of it, published in 1830. He appears transaction being no secret, afforded Lord Byron, fully aware that this was the last act of his poetic who was then at general war with all who black-reign, and accordingly winds up that intro

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duction with the following passage, the truth of which will readily be acknowledged by all who have had any means of investigating his character, or experiencing his kindness:

a temporary superiority over men, of whom, in regard to poetical fancy and feeling, I scarcely thought myself worthy to loose the shoe-latch. On the other hand, it would be absurd affectaIt only remains for me to say, that, during tion in me to deny, that I conceived myself to my short pre-eminence of popularity, I faithfully | understand, more perfectly than many of my observed the rules of moderation which I had contemporaries, the manner most likely to inresolved to follow before I began my course as terest the great mass of mankind. Yet, even a man of letters. If a man is determined to make with this belief, I must truly and fairly say, that a noise in the world, he is as sure to encounter I always considered myself rather as one who abuse and ridicule, as he who gallops furiously held the bets, in time to be paid over to the winthrough a village must reckon on being followed ner, than as having any pretence to keep them by the curs in full cry. Experienced persous in my own right. know, that in stretching to flog the latter, the ri- « In the mean time years crept on, and not withder is very apt to catch a bad fall; nor is an at- out their usual depredations on the passing getempt to chastise a malignant critic attended neration. My sons had arrived at the age when with less danger to the author. On this prin- the paternal home was no longer their best ciple, I let parody, burlesque, and squibs, find abode, as both were destined to active life. The their own level; and while the latter hissed most field sports, to which I was peculiarly attached, fiercely, I was cautious never to catch them up, had now less interest, and were replaced by as school-boys do, to throw them back against other amusements of a more quiet character; the naughty boy who fired them off, wisely re- and the means and opportunity of pursuing membering, that they are, in such cases, apt to these were to be sought for. I had, indeed, for explode in the handling. Let me add, that my some years attended to farming, a knowledge of reign (since Byron has so called it) was marked which is, or at least was then, indispensable to by some instances of good-nature as well as pa- the comforts of a family residing in a solitary tience. never refused a literary person of merit | country-house; but although this was the fasuch services in smoothing his way to the public vourite amusement of many of my friends, I as were in my power; and I had the advantage, have never been able to consider it as a source rather an uncommon one with our irritable race, of pleasure. I never could think it a matter to enjoy general favour, without incurring per- of passing importance, that my cattle, or crops, manent ill-will, so far as is known to me, among were better or more plentiful than those of my any of my contemporaries.» neighbours, and nevertheless I began to feel the necessity of some more quiet out-door occupation than I had hitherto pursued. I purchased a small farm of about 100 acres, with the purpose of planting and improving it, to which property circumstances afterwards enabled me to make considerable additions; and thus an era took place in my life, almost equal to the important one mentioned by the Vicar of Wakefield, when he removed from the Blue room to the Brown. In point of neighbourhood, at least, the change of residence made little more difference. Abbotsford, to which we removed, was only six or seven miles down the Tweed, and lay on the same beautiful stream. It did not possess the romantic character of Ashiestiel, my former residence; but it had a stretch of meadow-laud along the river, and possessed, in the phrase of the landscape-gardener, considerable capabilities. Above all, the land was my own, like Uncle Toby's Bowling-green, to do what I would with. It had been, though the gratification was long postponed, an early wish of mine to connect myself with my mother-earth, and prosecute those experiments by which a species of creative power is exercised over the face of na

The Vision of Don Roderick» appeared in 1811, and was intended by its author to commemorate the achievements of the Duke of Wellington and the British army in Spain. This poem is considered a complete failure.

The same year was published « The Secret History of the Court of King James I," in two volumes. About this time Mr Scott removed from Ashiestiel to Abbotsford, the estate at which he has ever since resided. The motives of this change, and the nature of his occupations at this period, together with the train of reasoning by which he was led to change his garb of poet for that of novelist, are so well described by himself in his Introduction to the last edition of « Rokeby, that it would be unjust not to quote it entire.

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Between the publication of 'The Lady of the Lake,' which was so eminently successful, and that of 'Rokeby' in 1813, three years had intervened. I shall not, I believe, be accused of ever having attempted to usurp a superiority over many men of genius, my contemporaries; but, in point of popularity, not of actual talent, the caprice of the public bad certainly given me such

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